East Riddlesden Hall, a step away from the everyday

We have visited a lot of National Trust places last year and East Riddlesden Hall, located near Saltaire, was another awesome little gem ! A house has been present on these grounds since the 7th century. A medieval hall was built in the 14th century, then a house was constructed south of the medieval hall a century later. The hall was then transformed into a comfortable manor house in the 17th century. The day we visited, there was a wedding organised in the barn, it looked lovely but I thought it would have been rude to take pictures !

Although it is a small property, it contains a lot of interesting rooms full of little objects and is the interior is a beautiful example of a 17th century merchant’s home. The staff was very knowledgable and it was nice to learn the history of the place !

Behind the hall, there is also a lovely little garden. We enjoyed the tranquil Wild Garden and the scented Herb Border which was used as a medicine cabinet by the people who once lived here. It was a sunny day and we really had a great time ! It’s smaller than other national trust places we’ve visited around Yorkshire and I don’t think a full day is necessary to enjoy the place ! You can easily combine this visit with Saltaire !

79 Comments

It looks a delightful spot Gin! I know Saltaire well – in fact I really must blog about it some day as we have a family connection with it. My great great grandfather was once part owner of Salts Mill – he was part of a consortium of businessmen who bought out the Salt family when the mill went into receivership back in the late 19th century. So have visited the mill (and the gorgeous shop, art gallery and cafe) many times but have never been to East Riddlesden Hall. Must check it out – the flower photos are lovely! 🙂

What a stately place with very well-kept grounds. I’ve often wondered what it’s like to live in such a huge mansion with so many rooms! And you call this a small place??.:) It must have been very expensive to upkeep the property then and even now.

I bet it’s really cold to live there during winter. It’s kind of small for a National Trust place, it would be difficult to spend a full day over there. Of course, it’s not that small comparing to a regular house 😉

It’s probably one of the reason why the owner sold the place to the National Trust, because it was to expensive to maintain.

This looks like a beautiful property to visit. What looks like a gorgeous and atmospheric building on the outside and it sounds as if the interior has some very interesting aspects too. Thank you for sharing this – I’m putting it on my list of must visits! Very much enjoying your blog and the lovely photography!
– Kate

Huge fan of the National Trust, they look after all sorts of interesting properties including islands and….pubs! If you’re still in Yorkshire, the Forbidden Corner is worth a visit. It’s not run by the National Trust and is in North Yorks rather than West Yorks, but it’s enormous fun with mazes, tricks and surprises all built in and around an eccentric folly.

I love the National Trust places. All the volunteers are so knowledgeable and friendly, it’s a pleasure to talk to them. I live in Leeds so I would definitively have a look at the Forbidden Corner ! Thanks for the recommendation 🙂

Saltaire is very nice ! The museum, the cafe and the shop are so pleasant ! There is also a park close to the train station that is worth the detour. You can easily add East Riddlesden to your trip to Saltaire, it won’t take long to visit everything.

Gorgeous flower shots! I love how you’ve captured them in the light. Well done. I’m a fan of old buildings and especially enjoy looking through their libraries of books from the past. I like seeing the inscriptions written to people and the thrill of finding old letters.

Awww! So polite of you to not take photos of the wedding! They probably wouldn’t have minded since it was a public place, but you never really know 😀 Wonderful photos of the flowers. They look so light and delicate. Up close, they actually look like very nice parasols or umbrellas to use in the day time to block the sun 😀

It’s really worth it. If you do between 4 to 5 visit a year you’ve already reimbursed your national trust subscription. You can also use it for free parking. It can go really quickly, especially when you are on holiday !

Next year I think about joining the English Heritage to change a bit of scenery 🙂